Author Archives: admin
← Older posts Newer posts →Reconciling the Afghan Analyst Network
July 2, 2011Edward Kenney Afghanistan Study Group How confident should we be that the supposed reconciliation talks are going to succeed? Why don’t we check with the folks from the Afghan Analysts Network? Thomas Ruttig is not too optimistic: It is even … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Tagged negotiation, peace, Taliban | Leave a commentASG Weekly Reader: Stuck in the Middle with You
July 1, 2011Noteworthy developments in Afghanistan and the United States’ prosecution of our war there have included: Central Bank Gov. Abdul Qadir Fitrat’s flight to the US and a subsequent request by Afghan authorities for his extradition in connection with the Kabul … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentAfghan Financial Death Match: IMF versus Central Bank
June 30, 2011Edward Kenney Afghanistan Study Group Last Fall I attended a conference by the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce with keynote speaker Dr Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, the Afghan Central Bank Governor. The purpose of the conference was to reinvigorate foreign investment in … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Tagged Afghanistan government, corruption, security | Leave a commentObama’s Speech: Beyond Troop Levels and Timetables
June 29, 2011Edward Kenney Afghanistan Study Group In many ways, the President’s decision to withdraw 10-thousand troops this year and an additional 23-thousand next year was anticlimactic. For weeks prognosticators had expected this level of withdrawal, and unsurprisingly Obama has staked out … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Tagged al Qaeda, continuation, drawdown, strategy | Leave a commentThe President’s Drawdown: Cracks in the Dam
June 28, 2011The President’s decision to withdraw 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year shows that the White House and Congress feel the heat from the work of anti-Afghanistan-War movement, but he didn’t go far enough. The bottom line for those of … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Tagged defense spending, drawdown | Leave a commentASG Weekly Reader: A Speech No One Likes
June 24, 2011Does removing 10,000 troops from Afghanistan amount to a change we can believe in? Sadly, when it comes to President Obama’s announcement on troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The President’s speech … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentOur Plan Has Not Worked in Afghanistan
June 22, 2011Matthew Hoh – Afghanistan Study Group Director As he was announcing his second increase in troops for Afghanistan in December 2009, President Obama promised that by July 2011 those troops would begin coming home. As relayed by Bob Woodward’s book, … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Tagged al Qaeda, corruption, drawdown, election, Obama's Wars, strategy, timetable | Leave a commentA Profile in Courage: Canada Draws Down in Afghanistan
June 20, 2011Will Keola Thomas – Afghanistan Study Group A few weeks ago, outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned a gathering of NATO defense ministers that a “rush to the exits” in Afghanistan would put military gains there at risk. “We … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Uncategorized | Tagged drawdown, progress | Leave a commentASG Weekly Reader: Winning the War at Home
June 17, 2011More signs this week that the most significant progress being made toward resolving the conflict in Afghanistan is occurring on the home front. While the past week’s headlines reported a record number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and further evidence … Continue reading
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentA Case Study on Afghan Statistics: Does Poverty Reduce Conflict
June 13, 2011Edward Kenney Afghanistan Study Group In Washington DC there is a strong bias towards empirical research over either comparative or historical studies, but I have increasingly become convinced that most people cannot identify the characteristics of a good empirical study … Continue reading
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